Elder Cultivator

A steady breeze kept the ship going at a good pace, but as they had drifted north Ermias couldn’t help but look towards distant shores he knew were there somewhere. They might be well beyond the range of his sight or energy senses, but they still felt a bit too close somehow. He looked up at the stars, trying to judge their position. “Are you sure we aren’t too close?” Ermias asked the captain.

“Yes I’m sure. And it’s the middle of the night out in the middle of nowhere. Nobody will notice. But I’m not going through the reefs in the dark.”

“Right.” Ermias nodded. “Of course.” Skyships didn’t have to worry about such things, but he’d been on mundane ships enough to know there were many obstacles even on what appeared to be empty ocean.

Things were silent for about another hour, then the dawn came. From the north, all at once. Neither of those things were normal, but there was no other way to explain the clouds and sea lighting up, was there?

There was a cracking sound as something impacted the ship’s defensive barrier, and then the mast was tumbling over. Ermias didn’t know what was going on, but he jumped away from the ship to the south, trying to fly away. Something impacted his chest, sending him backwards to sprawl on the deck. The sound of chain unraveling caught his attention, as he looked at the anchor somehow dropping itself. Once it was over the edge gravity would take over, but those things didn’t just slip off the edge.

Confusing shouts, cursing, and frantic orders from the captain overwhelmed the pleasant sloshing sound of waves and gentle breeze. Ermias saw the sailors attempt various things, but those around the anchor were knocked back by sudden flashes of light. The captain eventually ordered them to chop through the chain, but that led to further flashes that disarmed people- and not just gently. Blood dripped from many people… though Ermias didn’t see anyone dead yet. As for himself, he had a hole in his chest, but it only went a knuckle deep, not quite enough to be any real danger.

He considered trying to flee again, but that didn’t work for anyone else who tried to abandon ship. They were all kept contained by whatever force was attacking. Everyone could feel the power, but not where it came from- except the vague direction.

“You!” the captain glared at Ermias, “This is all your fault! They’re after you!”

Ermias tensed, ready to defend himself against the captain. One on one, they would be a decent match, and if Ermias needed to defend himself normally it wouldn’t be an issue. He could just fly out of the enemy’s optimal range and that would be it. But the rest of the crew would be with the captain, and he couldn’t exactly get out of range without some mysterious force attacking him.

The captain’s blade was halfway to him when something shot between them, forcing the man to pull back or risk his arm. Ermias briefly considered some sort of counterattack, but he had the feeling that this person wasn’t on his side. He wasn’t exactly welcome in the area.

Eventually all of the activity ceased, and people sat and waited. Testing the limits seemed to result in more serious injuries, but eventually they could feel something approaching. After a couple hours the ship was visible, though by that point Ermias was quite certain he was dead. He had plenty of time to sense the incoming person, and they weren’t hiding the fact that they were from the Order of One Hundred Stars. No, more than that… it was him. In a way the one who had gotten Ermias into this mess to begin with. There simply couldn’t be many other archers of that caliber in the Order.

“Do you know where you are?” a voice boomed from the approaching ship.

“About two hundred south of Droca,” the captain said nervously.

“One hundred and ninety.” The one who was speaking leapt ahead of his ship, water spraying beneath him as he moved before stepping onto the ship.

“I didn’t know-” the captain began to protest, but a single look from the man shut him up. It was hard to look directly at this individual who shone in the night, and uncomfortable to think about how strong he was.

“Didn’t know what? Where your ship was? Who your passengers were?” Eyes drifted towards the hold, “What cargo you have? We’ll deal with that in a second.” Ermias was suddenly looking into the sun- two of them, with each eye of the man leaning close to his face. Grand Elder Anton. It had to be. “Why are you here?”

“I-I was fleeing from the Soaring Air Sect.”

“Why come here?” Anton’s voice was forceful, nearly compelling him to answer, though Ermias imagined it was impossible to make his position any worse anyway.

“The rest of the Exalted Archipelago has extradition treaties with the Soaring Air Sect,” Ermias swallowed. “I was planning to head to the Storm Reefs. They’re… outside the claimed territory of the continent, right?” He looked back and forth between Anton and the captain.

A smile crept onto the old man’s face. “And why would you be fleeing from the Soaring Air Sect, hmm?”

Those eyes burrowed deep into his soul. Lying wouldn’t save Ermias even if he could at this moment. “Because of you,” he just managed to croak.

“And then you got off course into our waters.” Anton straightened, turning away from Ermias to the captain. Ermias hadn’t even realized he’d fallen onto his rear until then. “Captain… care to explain why you’re here?”

“It was just a small detour… we didn’t want to approach the reefs directly at night and I suppose we drifted-” The captain swallowed, “I mean, I thought we wouldn’t be bothered with since we weren’t approaching…”

“The second part is more honest, at least,” Anton shook his head. He walked over to a hatch leading below decks, flipping it open. Grasping several crates with his energy, he yanked them up onto the deck. Then he flung them into the air, before flicking fire at them and burning them to ash. “Listen, captain. I’m not interested in enforcing taxes on the rest of what you’re smuggling down there, but I can’t tolerate deathweed for any purpose. Next time you pick up someone like this,” he gestured to Ermias. “Just send a message… or be very careful where you travel. This time it only cost you a mast, so be grateful.”

Ermias found himself suddenly yanked by his collar as Anton leapt back onto his ship which had closed the remaining distance. “What are you going to do with me?” Ermias asked.

“Don’t know yet,” Anton said. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

-----

With most of the Exalted Archipelago either working towards compliance with the terms of the treaty or at least putting in the effort to pretend they were, for the moment the continents were content to not escalate matters. Personally Anton thought they were rather slow, though cultivators took their time in many situations. It was potentially difficult for them to completely follow through with the terms of the treaty. Perhaps impossible when combined with the rules from the Exalted Quadrant above. That was something they had to work out for themselves, however. If they couldn’t follow the terms, that should have come up in the initial signing. They would find some way to extract other penalties if they failed to meet those standards.

While Anton would have liked to simply wipe out the Soaring Air Sect, he had to admit it was more a desire for personal revenge than some overarching justice. They’d killed five of their Life Transformation cultivators- not the best of them, but still a real loss- and extracting some other sort of penalty that avoided a war would ultimately be better for the world. But he couldn’t help but reach back to clutch his bow whenever he thought of them.

Then there was the issue of Ermias. The young man- young for his cultivation at least- was a conundrum. But it was easy to make an exception. He would rather take a declaration from an individual that they were not part of the Soaring Air Sect when he was causing no trouble compared to the official matters where they declared people weren’t working for them after they failed an obvious mission. Sect Head Kaluza had thought the Exalted Archipelago would shield her sect… and she was at least partly right. The trade ban might even hurt continental affairs more, but they didn’t need anything from the Exalted Archipelago. They’d been smart enough to not push the limits for the most part, though Anton had been a hair’s width from shooting down a skyship skirting the edge of continental territory.

So far no one except Ermias from the Soaring Air Sect had actually crossed the line. Nobody wanted to take those consequences onto their own head, after all- loyalty to a sect wasn’t completely without limit. As Ermias made obvious.

Anton hadn’t continued to press in front of the captain, but once they were alone he asked for more. “What is it about me that would cause you to flee the Soaring Air Sect?” He needed to know what they knew.

Ermias just gestured to Anton as a whole, “I think it’s pretty obvious. You were one of those famous during the war, and have now reached the peak of your power. It appears you have no intention of ascending either.”

“Is that all?” Anton asked.

“Well…” Ermias scratched his chin. “I was standing guard for one of the meetings of the upper echelon. They were concerned that perhaps you had reached a higher stage of cultivation. They wanted to make sure you didn’t continue to grow.”

“I see,” Anton nodded. “And what do you think?”

“I saw the war,” Ermias shook his head. “The Soaring Air Sect didn’t seem to think the continental powers were capable of standing up to the Exalted Archipelago, but you proved them wrong.”

“So you thought it was a good idea to sneak past the restrictions we had in place to hide yourself…” Anton narrowed his eyes.

“I believed you would follow the terms you had set in place. If I could simply stay out of the war, I would have a chance. I didn’t expect the captain to be so careless.”

“You are fortunate that it was me and not some of the others,” Anton said.

“I suppose so. Though I doubt many others would have been able to spot us at that distance.”

“About war… you think that is what the Exalted Archipelago intends?”

“The Soaring Air Sect thought it would be the case. Within a few years, at least.”

“I see,” Anton nodded. “I don’t know if you can stay out of that war,” Anton commented.

“I won’t fight for the Soaring Air Sect. They have no hold over me.”

“That’s not quite true,” Anton said. “But discounting further off troubles… what if I told you to fight on our side?”

Ermias thought for a few moments. “I am not a coward. I just refuse to fight for those who make reckless judgements about their opponent’s strength.”

“What do you think about us, then?” Anton asked.

“If you were truly reckless, you would have continued the last war… or started the next one quickly. Even if I hadn’t seen your strength I would prefer the measured approach here.”

Anton smiled, “You said they thought I reached a higher stage of cultivation. What do you think?”

“I don’t, uh…” Ermias frowned. He was reluctant to try to feel out the cultivation of someone who could easily kill him from beyond where he could see. “I don’t know. You seem like you must be, but you haven’t ascended. They didn’t… nobody seemed to know what you might have done. They were just afraid of the possibility.”

Anton nodded, “Perhaps they should be.”